Stage 4: 492 Real Stories
492 stories match stage 4. 319 of them mention chemotherapy.
Stage IV BRCA Breast Cancer: Maralee’s Survivor Story
Maralee Lellio was 28 when she noticed a breast lump in 2018. A first evaluation called it a benign fibroadenoma, but the lump grew and became painful. Further mammogram and biopsy showed Stage II breast cancer. Before treatment, Maralee and her husband froze…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Lung Cancer: Kartik’s Patient Story
Kartik was 28 and a third-year internal medicine resident when he was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. Molecular testing identified an EML4/ALK mutation, and he entered a targeted clinical trial. That treatment allowed him to continue working in medicine…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Kyle’s Patient Story
Kyle Rising-Moore described his colorectal cancer experience as a fight that nearly broke him. What began with subtle symptoms quickly became a Stage IV colorectal cancer diagnosis and forced him to confront his mortality. He went through cancer treatment…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Nathan’s Survivor Story
Nathan, a 35-year-old father of 5, had persistent heartburn, digestive problems, early fullness, exhaustion, and later severe abdominal pain. Blood work in the emergency room showed major anemia, and colonoscopy revealed colon cancer: a baseball-sized tumor…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Mariana’s Patient Story
Mariana was 26 when mild symptoms led to a Stage IV colon cancer diagnosis. Her main warning signs were bloating, anemia, and blood in her stool. After she passed out at home in May, the emergency room gave her fluids and noted severe anemia, but she still…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: David’s Patient Story
David spent months trying to get answers for worsening digestive symptoms, severe fatigue, ribbony stool, blood in his stool, and about 70 pounds of weight loss. His symptoms were repeatedly attributed to stress, depression, anxiety, medication effects, or…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Helen’s Survivor Story
Helen was 49 when symptoms that seemed like a urinary tract infection led to a Stage IV sigmoid colon cancer diagnosis. She had pelvic pressure, burning with urination, bowel changes, bloating, and low energy. After 3 rounds of antibiotics and 2 enemas that…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Elissa’s Patient Story
Elissa Kalver was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer just before her daughter’s 1st birthday. The diagnosis brought the shock of Stage IV cancer together with the everyday responsibilities of caring for a very young child. One of the hardest parts was…
Read this storyStage IV HR-Positive Breast Cancer: Joelle’s Patient Story
Joelle was 36 when she was diagnosed with Stage IV hormone-positive breast cancer. Some warning signs appeared around pregnancy and postpartum life: severe nausea during pregnancy, milk never coming in from the right breast, intermittent right nipple…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Erica’s Patient Story
Erica was 41, active, and working as a P.E. teacher when breast cancer became part of her daily life again. Her first diagnosis was Stage I hormone-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. She completed chemotherapy in February 2025 and had a double mastectomy…
Read this storyStage IV Melanoma: Ken’s Survivor Story
Ken Herich had watched a growth on his right hand for about 10 years before an old friend, a retired physician, warned him it looked like melanoma. Doctors initially believed it was melanoma in situ, and in mid-2019 Ken had a wide excision with clear nearby…
Read this storyStage IV EGFR Lung Cancer: Kelsey’s Patient Story
Kelsey was 36, a mother of 4, and working as a SoulCycle manager when severe back pain began changing her life. At first, she blamed work, commuting, aging, or a pulled muscle. Then she collapsed while coaching baseball and later had to crawl to the bathroom…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Jim’s Patient Story
Jim was 43 and felt healthy when routine blood work changed everything. A physical for an insurance discount showed high liver enzymes, and repeat blood work stayed abnormal. An ultrasound found multiple liver masses, followed by a biopsy and CT scan. He was…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Kalei’s Patient Story
Kalei first noticed bowel changes that seemed small: going more often, mucus or tissue in the stool, stomach pain, sharp pains, rectal bleeding, and then blood clots. Doctors initially reassured her because her blood work was normal, she was not anemic, and…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Megan’s Survivor Story
Megan was 33, active, a never-smoker, and raising 2 young children when chest pain began. Urgent care and ER visits first led to explanations such as a pulled muscle or anxiety. Then she developed shortness of breath on walks, arm pain, and visible veins in…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Lauren’s Patient Story
Lauren Huffmaster has been living with metastatic breast cancer since 2015. In the 10 years after diagnosis, she turned part of that experience outward, founding Adventure Therapy Foundation, becoming a speaker and author, and helping other people with cancer…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: David’s Survivor Story
David Lyon was 26 when occasional blood in his stool was followed by sharp abdominal pain so severe he could not stand up straight. A colonoscopy in June 2021 showed Stage IV colorectal cancer that had spread to his liver and several lymph nodes near his…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Joe’s Patient Story
Joe never had blood in his stool. His warning signs were fatigue, loss of appetite, feeling generally off, and then severe shoulder, back, stomach, and liver-area pain. Because he worked long hours in the restaurant industry, the fatigue was easy to explain…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Alyssa’s Patient Story
Alyssa Kelly was 38 and pregnant in early 2021 when abdominal discomfort, weight loss and a concerning ultrasound finding led to an MRI. The news came by phone: Stage IV colon cancer. The main tumor was the size of a softball and pressed on her uterus…
Read this storyStage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Natalie’s Patient Story
Natalie was diagnosed with Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer at 33. By the time her story reached the transplant stage, her cancer had progressed despite 2 clinical trials and 2 different chemotherapies. Her lung function had declined badly; she described…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Christina’s Patient Story
Christina spent months feeling that something was wrong. In January 2024, she felt as if she had a cold, with swelling around her neck and head. The problem worsened, and she repeatedly told her doctor she felt seriously ill. She later learned that the…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Mike’s Patient Story
Mike Ray was 39 when he faced colon cancer that had spread to his liver. He also learned he had Lynch syndrome, a hereditary condition that raises the risk of several cancers. Many centers could only offer palliative care because his cancer was metastatic and…
Read this storyStage IV EGFR Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Maggie’s Patient Story
Maggie was 60 in 2021 and expected the year to be one of the best of her life. Instead, unusual symptoms led to a Stage IV lung cancer diagnosis. She first had an ocular migraine, then leg pain that turned out to be a partial blood clot. A CT scan showed…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Natasha’s Patient Story
Natasha McCants had her first screening colonoscopy in February 2023 at age 45 after a suspicious Cologuard test. The initial biopsy did not show cancer, but her gastroenterologist trusted what he had seen and sent her to surgery. Two months later, a…
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